When
I first came to work in Littlehampton
in 2002, it didn’t take long for the
penny to drop that when the young people
were saying “LA” they meant Littlehampton.
Or, as it is more accurately pronounced:
“Lil-Ampton”. Then of course UK stands
for the United Kingdom. As this project
will be working specifically with young
people in the BN17 postcode, I decided
to call it: LA-UK.
Interestingly enough,
the “LA” phrase was first coined by
a Two Ronnies sketch. Ronnie Barker
(the fat one) used to have a holiday
flat near the beach. The sketch, set
in a pub, goes something like this:
Ronnie Barker: “I’ve been on my holidays!”
Ronnie Corbett: “Where did you go?”
Barker: “LA”
Corbett: “What, Los Angeles?”
Barker: “Nah, LittleAmpton!”
Rumour
has it, that Ronnie Barker was inspired
by his LA surroundings to write his
comedy series Open All Hours. David
Jason’s character is called Granville,
and Granville Road runs close to the
beach and meets Norfolk Road. In Norfolk
Road there is a Londis, which years
ago (before it was a Londis) was a shop
that Ronnie Barker would frequent. Allegedly,
the staff and the regulars that shopped
there were his inspiration for the Open
All Hours characters.
A ‘you tube’ search for the Two Ronnies
LA sketch proved fruitless. However,
here are a couple of others to give
you a laugh.
When
I first came to work in Littlehampton
in 2002, it didn’t take long for the
penny to drop that when the young people
were saying “LA” they meant Littlehampton.
Or, as it is more accurately pronounced:
“Lil-Ampton”. Then of course UK stands
for the United Kingdom. As this project
will be working specifically with young
people in the BN17 postcode, I decided
to call it: LA-UK.
Rumour
has it, that Ronnie Barker was inspired
by his LA surroundings to write his
comedy series Open All Hours. David
Jason’s character is called Granville,
and Granville Road runs close to the
beach and meets Norfolk Road. In Norfolk
Road there is a Londis, which years
ago (before it was a Londis) was a shop
that Ronnie Barker would frequent. Allegedly,
the staff and the regulars that shopped
there were his inspiration for the Open
All Hours characters.